config.md

CABLE 82 configuration reference

Everything the control room edits lives in one file, config.json, next to the server. The control room is the safe way to change it: every save is validated and written whole. The file can be hand-edited too, and the server picks up the change without a restart; if an edit leaves the file unreadable, the last good settings stay on the air, the control room says which line broke, and a Save from there writes a good file over it.

Every key is optional. A missing key takes its default; a value out of range is clamped; a value that makes no sense is dropped with a warning the control room shows after a save. The server seeds the file from these defaults on first run.

Station

Key	What it does	Default
channelName	The station's name: the bug on the board's header, the crawl's fallback, the bulletin channel's name on the dial	CABLE 82
tagline	The line under the name on the board, and the crawl's fallback after the name	COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD
timeFormat	"12h" or "24h", everywhere a clock is shown	12h
port	The port the server listens on. Read at startup	1982

The dial

channels is an array; the number is the order. Empty means the guide on 0 and the board on 82, which is what a fresh install has.

Every channel has:

Key	What it does
number	0 to 999, unique. 0 is a real channel (the guide lives there out of the box)
name	Up to 40 characters. Empty means the station name for a bulletin channel, the preview name for a guide, CHANNEL N otherwise
type	bulletin, video, guide, or external
enabled	false takes it off the dial without deleting it

A video channel adds:

Key	What it does	Default
folder	One folder name (no path) under channels/ on the card, or under a channels folder on any drive. If the same name exists in two places, the built-in one wins	required
order	sequence (file names, naturally sorted, so E2 airs before E10) or shuffle-daily (a fresh order each day, stable all day)	sequence
mode	continuous (always on the air) or schedule	continuous
schedule	Windows { "days": ["sat","sun"], "start": "08:00", "end": "11:30" }. An end at or before the start runs overnight into the next morning	[]
offAir	What shows outside the windows: testcard, bars, snow, or bulletin (fall back to the board)	testcard
breaks	Commercial breaks: { "folder": "spots", "everyMinutes": 15, "spots": 3 }. Each program is cut into even acts of about everyMinutes (0 to 240; 0 means breaks only between programs) and a break of spots spots (1 to 20) follows every act. At 0 minutes, everyPrograms (1 to 50, default 1) spaces the breaks out: a break after every that-many programs, and always one at the end of the loop; a channel of three-minute music videos might take "everyMinutes": 0, "everyPrograms": 5, "spots": 1. The spots folder must be a different folder	none
titles	What the guide calls this channel's programs: filename (the cleaned file name), metadata (the title written inside each file, read once and cached in .titles.json beside the videos; the file name when a file has none), or fixed (one name for the whole channel)	filename
title	The one name, when titles is fixed. Empty means the channel's own name	the channel name

An external channel adds url, an http or https address framed full screen. A guide channel takes its settings from preview below.

The tuner

tuner:

Key	What it does	Default
sources.keyboard	Arrow keys and digits on the display's keyboard	true
sources.gamepad	A USB gamepad or joystick: up and down change the channel, left and right the volume, Select jumps home to the board, two presses of any other button are the power key, and a long run of presses shuts the machine down (shutdownPresses)	true
sources.http	POST /api/tune, which the remote uses. Off, the remote says so	true
wrap	Whether the dial wraps at the ends	true
cut	What covers a channel change: static, black, or none	static
power	How the picture goes out: crt (folds to a line and fades) or black	crt
shutdownPresses	How many presses of a gamepad button in a row shut the machine down, 5 to 20; 0 turns the count off. Works where the control room's Shut down button does	10

Channel 0, the guide

preview:

Key	What it does	Default
name	The wordmark, and channel 0's name on the dial	CABLEVUE
tagline	Under the wordmark. An empty string is a choice; only an absent key takes the default	WHAT'S ON, AND WHAT'S NEXT
slots	Half-hour columns across, 2 to 4	3
scrollSeconds	Seconds a screenful of lineup takes to crawl by, 4 to 120; the lineup only crawls when it is taller than the screen	14
seconds	Whether the corner clock counts seconds	true
background	A palette color name	blue

Channel 82, the board

Key	What it does	Default
rotation	The page lineup, in order: { "type": "clock" }, messages, facts, dadjokes, weather, or { "type": "headlines", "feed": "news" }	clock, messages, weather, facts, headlines, …
pageSeconds	Seconds each page holds, 3 to 120	12
messages	{ "text": "…", "color": "green" }; color null cycles the palette. Up to 200 characters, plain Latin text (the bitmap font has no emoji)	four samples
facts, dadJokes	One string each, up to 200 characters	samples
feeds	{ "id": "news", "label": "NEWS", "url": "https://…" }. The server only ever fetches these URLs	WBUR, Hacker News, nothans.com
refreshMinutes	Feed re-fetch interval, 1 to 1440	10
maxItemsPerFeed	Items kept per feed, 1 to 100	20
crawl.feeds	Which feed ids ride the ticker	all feeds
crawl.secondsPerScreen	Ticker speed: seconds to cross the screen once, 2 to 60	9
crawl.separator	Between items, up to 16 characters	■
crawl.flag	The label pinned to the ticker's left, up to 16 characters; empty hides it	LATEST
weather.location	{ "name", "latitude", "longitude", "timezone" }, geocoded in the control room. Null means no weather	Boston
weather.tempUnit	F or C	F
weather.windUnit	mph or kmh	mph
music.enabled	Background music from music/ behind the board	true
music.shuffle	Shuffle the tracks	true
music.volume	0 to 100	60
cheerlights.enabled	The latest CheerLights color as a crawl item	true
cheerlights.template	{color} becomes the color name	THE WORLD IS SET TO {COLOR}
jarvis.enabled	Jarvis, the on-screen host (POST /api/jarvis)	true
jarvis.name	The name on his caption flag, up to 16 characters	JARVIS
jarvis.voice	Speak his lines through espeak-ng when it is installed	true
jarvis.espeakVoice	The espeak-ng voice	en-us+m3
jarvis.speed	Words a minute, 80 to 260	150
jarvis.pitch	0 to 99	38
colors.pageCycle	The palette pages cycle through when a message has no color	blue, green, red, cyan
colors.headerBg, colors.crawlBg	The header and crawl bands	blue, ink

Colors are palette names: blue, cyan, green, yellow, red, magenta, white, ink. The palette is broadcast-safe on purpose; raw hex works too if you must. In CRT mode the whole palette is swapped for a softer one and the crawl is pinned to a dark blue band.

The set

Key	What it does	Default
overscanX, overscanY	Overscan safe margins in percent, sides and top/bottom, 0 to 15. (A file from an earlier release with one overscanPercent seeds both)	7, 7
crtMode	The softer palette and no drop shadow, for composite or RF	false
crtInkText	Dark text on color pages while CRT mode is on; white smears on some tubes	false
textScale	Enlarges body, kicker, crawl, guide, and small header text, 1 to 1.5	1
fauxCrt.on	Faux CRT, for a flat panel: the picture plays inside a drawn wood console that fills the screen. Turned off with a warning while crtMode is on	false
fauxCrt.set	The drawing: console (wood, with a live channel dial) or none (the glass alone)	"console"
fauxCrt.curve	The bulge of the glass, 0 to 10; the picture and the glass bend together, 0 is flat	3
fauxCrt.scanlines, fauxCrt.noise, fauxCrt.wave, fauxCrt.bloom, fauxCrt.vignette, fauxCrt.flicker	The tube's tells, each 0 to 10: the line pattern, grain, a weak-signal wobble, bright bleed, dark corners, and the brightness breathing at mains rate	4, 2, 1, 2, 3, 0
fauxCrt.mask, fauxCrt.reflection	A faint RGB phosphor triad; a soft highlight on the glass	false, false
dailyReloadHour	The hour (0 to 23) the display reloads itself, or false	4

Files the server keeps beside your videos

• .durations.json in a channel folder: each file's length, learned the first time the display plays it. Delete it to force a re-probe.
• .titles.json in a channel folder: the title inside each file, read once when the channel is set to metadata titles. Delete it to re-read.

Neither is served, and neither is tracked by git.